Kyuuketsuki Duo: The TV Series Episode 6
Memories
A young man stumbled down the road, the pitch black of the asphalt blending seamlessly with the unlit night. His steps were unsteady, his gait lurching, as he wove a crooked path, leaving behind him only phantom footsteps in the dry earth alongside the country road, the dust clinging to his shoes as if desperate to be carried away from this lifeless place.
He couldn't quite remember how he had gotten there. In fact, he couldn't remember much of anything at the moment. He felt drunk, or maybe high, but he didn't recall going to any parties, or clubs, and he wasn't experiencing much euphoria.
His feet stopped moving. He stared down at his shoes for a moment, feeling as if he should be concerned about the tracks his shoes would certainly make when he finally trudged across a threshold, and thinking that perhaps the hems of his pants ought not to be so dirty, but he didn't know who might possibly reprimand him for such lazy, unconcerned behavior. Confused, he clumsily fumbled around his pockets until he found his wallet, hoping that it might provide him some clues. It didn't.
A driver's license was there. He pulled it out and stared at the picture, wondering if it was really his own or not. Brown hair. Hazel eyes. The face in the bad photograph seemed a stranger to him. The name had no meaning. The address was unfamiliar. He turned the card over and saw an organ donor sticker affixed there. Well, whoever this fellow was, it seemed he was a kind person.
His feet started moving again. He didn't know where he was going, or even where he was, but he figured, at least he was moving, and therefore he was going somewhere, and somewhere was better than nowhere. He kept his eyes firmly fixed on the small, plastic card in his hands, trying to divine some information from it, but it yielded nothing. Finally, he gave up, and continued his wandering, trudging trek down the dusty road.
*****
The last one had been bland, boring, and tasteless. A commoner, a plebian, a spineless, weak fool. Even draining that one dry had provided so little sustenance. Where were the tormented ones? The souls in anguish that begged for release? Where was the flavor of life? Where was the stuff that would serve as more than a mere appetizer?
It searched. It searched widely, through the night, and through the next day, casting about the ether for its next target, one worthy of its effort.
It found.
It hunted.
*****
Wufei's sleep the previous night had not been restful. His mind had just refused to be silent, buzzing with enough activity to keep him from any true sleep for the whole night. The rest of the following day, his mind seemed to be similarly distracted. His classes had seemed unusually boring, and he had had to consciously concentrate in order to follow the lectures.
At lunchtime, Meiran had approached him, asking if he was feeling alright, but he dismissed her concerns just as he dismissed his disquiet. Still, on their way home from school, he caught her often glancing at him out of the corner of her eye, but he steadfastly ignored it, and ignored, too, the random thoughts that struck him from nowhere.
When they arrived, he closed himself into his room to meditate, thinking perhaps that that would bring him the calm he desired, but if anything else, the buzz in his head used the opportunity to fill the quiet with its insistent noise. When Meiran knocked quietly and informed him through the closed door that dinner was ready, he inexplicably recalled that her father's cousin had married into the Chang clan, and that the cousin's youngest son had been present the night the demon had won its freedom.
Mr. Lee was on one of his business trips again, leaving the two teens alone. Meiran had cooked the small dinner they ate with minimal conversation, although Meiran once again tried to find out what was bothering him. She knew, however, that Wufei was a closed and private person, and did not welcome intrusion into his personal affairs, so she could not find out much. Wufei, on his part, had been distracted for a moment by the magnificent crimson of the sunset. It reminded him eerily of the puddle of blood that had spread from beneath his father's dying body, as he listened to his father's last words.
Wufei helped clean up the kitchen. Initially he had protested to such a domestic chore, until Meiran had rebutted that a true man knew when to swallow his pride and help out, and that it was hardly fair for her to do all the housework when she had just as much schoolwork and other things besides as he did. But as he washed the dishes, hoping that the mindlessness of the task would clear his thoughts, he was only reminded of Hua Ping, slumped on the floor and mercifully dead of a heart attack in the kitchen, as the demon ravaged its way through their home.
He listened to the news on the radio as he worked. There had been an accident on the highway, a hit and run. The casualty had been brought to the hospital across town. It was the same hospital his mother resided in.
The annoying haze of flittering, irrelevant thoughts let up long enough for him to complete his schoolwork for the night, but it was made up for in his sleep. This time, he stayed not awake, but asleep, dreaming relentlessly in shades of midnight and scarlet, of a night he could never forget.
*****
Wufei stepped out for the night, hoping the crisp night air would help him focus. Never before had he ever been so unable to concentrate. He tried to be reasonable about it, to find some explanation as to why he would so suddenly be assaulted by memories he had no wish to dwell on, but he could find no connections. It was no anniversary event that only his subconscious had picked up on. There had been nothing spectacularly out of the ordinary to remind him of the events, even though in the last day, the most obliquely related things had been stirring the memories.
He tried to think some more about it, but the reason seemed so distant, so irrelevant. It didn't matter why he was suddenly remembering all these things. What was important was the fact that these memories existed, and were plaguing him.
He felt so tired. The harsh burden of his promise to his father that night weighed heavily upon his shoulders. It couldn't help but occur to him that things would be so much easier had his father let him perish in the flames, had he ignored his father's final wish and pursued the hellspawn to its lair itself, to wage doomed battle with it. But now he was left, alone, with only a dead sword and a dead family, and how easy would it be to leave them all behind, to forget them all and become someone new, someone without all the pain and --
"Wufei." Wufei blinked suddenly, his thoughts interrupted by a smooth baritone, and he spun around, surprised, and briefly, irrationally angered. It took a few moments to recognize the face and the voice, but a look at the peculiarly colored eyes snapped things into place. It was one of his acquaintances, one of Meiran's friends. Duo. The long-haired boy stood casually in the middle of the narrow road, the dark blazer of his school uniform held slung easily over one shoulder, and the rest of his school outfit loosened comfortably. Wufei hadn't even noticed him until he had spoken. He cursed his inattentiveness. How long had he been there?
"You're out late tonight," Duo commented amiably.
Disoriented, Wufei took in his surroundings. He didn't recognize where his wandering steps had taken him. Nor did he have any idea just how much time had passed, he realized suddenly. "Duo. What are you doing here?" he asked, trying to cover his confusion.
"Who, me?" The boy gestured at himself with his free hand. "This is the northern district, after all. I live around here, remember?"
Now that he thought about it, Wufei did recall that fact. "Do you usually take walks out at night?" he inquired, striving to give himself some context for comprehension.
Duo smiled at him wryly, as if to say, 'Do you?' Wufei flushed, and opened his mouth to spout some excuse he hadn't yet come up with, when Duo answered the question. "I like the night. It's very peaceful, when there's no one else out, walking the streets. A person could almost forget he's in the middle of a sprawl of humanity." His voice was quiet, serene, and complemented the night well.
"It's dangerous," Wufei pointed out, ignoring, for the moment, the irony of his own solo late-night walk. He could see some sense in what the other was saying. The streets were unusually silent, and the air had a sharp, deeply natural and clean nip to it. One could almost imagine that they were the only two people around for quite a ways, engaging in a surreally casual conversation, surrounded by the night. "You don't know what or who might be lurking in the shadows."
Duo shot him an indecipherable look. "Do you fear the shadows, Wufei?"
He felt himself tested somehow, and he answered the question carefully. "Fear them? No. But I know their danger. The night is when the shadows emerge, and hide their dark friends."
Duo smiled oddly at him again. "No. The night is just when all the shadows come out to play." The strange boy then blinked his wide violet eyes, and with the simple action seemed to switch moods. Wufei had noticed such behavior before, on a couple of occasions. "Did you take a wrong turn somewhere?" he asked, abruptly solicitous and no longer introspective. "You look a little lost."
"I... must have," Wufei replied hesitantly, taking another look at the buildings around them. He still didn't recognize any of them, specifically, although the general look of the area confirmed Duo's identification of the northern district.
"Oh, well, if you're trying to get home, you'll want to walk back down this street two blocks, take that left, and then turn right at the Christmas tree," Duo instructed, pointing out the turn. "Or at least, it looks an awful lot like a Christmas tree. It's about four streets down. That should bring you back out to familiar territory. It's only a little bit from there back to your place."
Wufei looked at the first street that Duo had indicated, and nodded his understanding. "Great," Duo responded. "I'll see you after the weekend, then." He turned and went back up the street, waving his hand negligently over his shoulder in farewell, before turning down a side street.
Wufei took a step towards his destination when he realized he hadn't even thanked the boy. He turned back and jogged quickly to the street Duo had taken, with the intention of showing proper gratitude for the directions, but when he turned the corner, there was no one in sight, and the street terminated in a dead end. Wufei blinked in surprise, but then reasoned that there was probably some short cut that Duo knew about, since he was a native to these parts. He shook his head, and started on his way home. He could thank him the next time he saw him.
*****
Wufei's sleep was troubled again that night, but this time, it didn't focus on the night the demon broke loose. Instead, he felt as if he had been shoved aside, and he found himself dreaming of and recalling all instances of his interactions with the boy he had encountered on the street. He remembered their first meeting, and his initial impressions of the odd one Meiran called friend. He saw Duo in his class, his performance always near the top scores, but never number one. He relived conversations they had had together, words he had spoken to others, thoughts that others had spoken about him. The pattern of it all made no sense. Some times his thoughts lingered upon Duo's words, other times his actions, and very many times, just upon Duo's eyes, flashing hauntingly with a depthless unknown.
He recalled them all with a clarity he would not have suspected, and for some reason, he felt angered, and frustrated, and suddenly hateful towards the boy with the long chestnut braid and the mysterious violet eyes, but the abrupt, baseless emotions disappeared when he woke the next morning, more troubled than ever.
*****
Wufei took advantage of the weekend to visit his little quiet place, something like an empty lot near the edge of town, not too far from his home, that saw no traffic. He had found it soon after arriving in this town, knowing that he would sometimes need a place away from people to train in peace. So he sequestered himself and meditated once more, only this time, he had direction. Not only was he looking for the source of his distraction, but now, after a morning spent in contemplation as he went about his regular tasks, he remembered something that might help.
The memories of that night, he might have dismissed, but the way his nighttime visions had lingered upon his schoolmate were too random, too odd for him to similarly excuse. The strange emotions that last night's encounter had evoked were too foreign to him. He had no reason to feel such sudden animosity towards Duo. But this morning, as random memories of that night continued to unpredictably attack him, he was reminded of the short time when the demon had infused him with a fear not his own. The sensation of being disconnected from one's emotions, of not knowing where they were coming from, resonated strongly with his current situation. He did not know how Duo fit into the larger picture, perhaps he would be its next victim, but the unpleasant suspicion began to gnaw at him that perhaps the demon, or one of its kind, was influencing him.
He took a deep breath, and looked within himself, as he had been instructed by his elders. The voices of recollection attempted to fill the silence once more, but this time, Wufei filled the silence himself, with his purpose, and pushed them out. Examining what he sensed within and without himself, he carefully sorted through it all and cataloged it. Some he definitely recognized as himself, and most of the rest, he identified as coming from his surroundings, but there was just a bit left over that was neither here nor there, now that he was looking for it, and he followed it carefully, more deeply within and without himself.
He felt a presence other than himself within his head, and with harsh surprise, he gave it a hard shove.
::Get out of my mind!:: Wufei flung the mental shout at it.
It woke and uncoiled leisurely, as if to mock him with its own security. ::Are you sure you want that?:: it responded coolly, sending a shiver down his spine. ::Before you know what I can offer you?::
::What could you possibly offer me that I might desire?:: he sneered at it.
::Freedom. You can't deny it. I've been in your mind, seen your thoughts, relived your past. You carry a heavy burden of pain. I can relieve you of that.::
A brief flash of temptation flew through his mind, but Wufei wasn't sure if it was his own, or inspired by the demon. Either way, he dispelled it almost immediately. ::Why would you want to?:: he rebutted angrily, knowing that maintaining his heated defiance would help him combat the evil presence.
A dark chuckle rolled over him. ::I won't deny it. I will feed, and benefit. But so shall you.:: He was treated to a lightning fast vision of Epyon, laughing malevolently at him with its dark aura before it retreated into the flames. ::Wouldn't you be happier without this emotional baggage?::
His mother's body, lying in a sterile hospital room, living only by the grace of the machines.
::It would be as if this had never happened.::
No, just because he didn't remember it, didn't make it any less true.
The last sweeping glance he had taken of the grounds, before he had left the flaming buildings, the image burned into his mind.
::These memories serve you no purpose.::
No, they were a reminder to him.
The last look he had gotten of the ruins of his home, before he had sealed the gates and turned his back on it.
::Merely the past. Best to leave it behind.::
No, if he forgot, then who was there left to remember?
A shrine, cloven in two. A sword, dead and cold in his hand.
::Their time is past. Let them rest in peace.::
No, there could be no peace for any of them until he had avenged them all, and redeemed his family honor.
Lei Fang, defeating him easily. Epyon, brushing him aside as nothing. Jahn Li, falling without a fight into their snares. The sting of shame that accompanied it all.
::No shame. No dishonor.::
No, it didn't work that way --
His father, binding him with a promise, and leaving him with nothing but a cold, lonely oath to do the impossible.
::No promise. No duty. A life to live as your own, and not beholden to your blood.::
No! Who was he without his family?
The loneliness. The terrible, icy loneliness that haunted him at every turn --
::No!:: With a violent effort, he wrenched his mind back to the present and threw the intrusive presence as far from him as possible. After a deep, heavy breath, he opened his eyes, and saw it hovering in the clearing, a foul gathering of darkness into a shape reminiscent of a stingray, with a wide, mouth-like aperture in its belly, darkness dripping from the lips like spittle.
He stood slowly, taking up the sword he had brought with him, which until now had lain on the ground beside him. When he had left that morning, something had told him to bring the sword, and he was glad he did. Its familiar weight in his hand comforted him like an old friend. "Begone from this place, demon," Wufei intoned, almost formulaically. He challengingly raised the sword to a ready position.
The shadow dipped its head briefly, as if bowing in recognition of Wufei's feat of exposing it. ::I am Shinma,:: it corrected, its mindvoice sounding sharp and metallic. ::And I do not walk where I am not welcome.::
"Then you are not welcome here," Wufei spat.
::But I am. Else I would never have been here in the first place.::
"I would never welcome you, or your false promises, into my mind, demon!" His hands on the sword quivered with outrage.
::So you say. But can you deny the fact that your memories weigh heavily upon your soul? Can you truly say that you would not, not for a second, wish those memories away, if you could?::
Wufei shook his head angrily. "No. No, demons are creatures of deceit, deceit and lies," he asserted aloud to himself, reminding him that no matter how silken the demon's words were, they were all aimed solely at manipulating him into forfeiting his soul.
::They were your memories, human. They were the truth. I manufactured none of it.:: The sinister creature shifted and swirled in place. ::You want out. Admit it.::
"No!" Wufei shouted again, pouring his righteous defiance and rejection into the simple word. "What I want is to banish you and your kind from this realm. All you would bring to humanity is disruption, corruption and suffering."
::You say that so easily in your ignorance,:: the Shinma responded coldly, yet smoothly. It almost dared him to ask for enlightenment. ::My 'kind' walk among you, barely noticed in your every day lives.:: Its short laugh rolled over him in a thick miasma. ::You might even be friends with one.::
Wufei got the distinct impression that it was mocking him, and decided that the time for talk was at an end. It clearly was not going to leave of its own accord. He firmed his grip on the hilt of his family's sword, and charged.
For a creature of insubstantiality, it seemed to ooze rather unnaturally as it evaded the swing of the sword just a little too late, and lost about a foot off its dangling tail end. It hissed in outrage and lunged at him, elongating as it did so and settling around Wufei in a whirl of shadows. ::You have no idea with whom you deal, human,:: it sneered.
Wufei sliced through it cleanly, the power of the blessed blade seeming to repel the darkness of the creature, but it easily reformed as if untouched and danced away from him. He pursued swiftly, taking the requisite few steps to cover the distance between them, and slid his sword through it once again. It mentally shrieked in pain this time, being unprepared for the passing of the blade through its being. "Go back to your hell, demonspawn," Wufei commanded, as he once again drove the bright sword of Shenlong into the dark cloud.
::You need not look so far for my kind.:: Those were the last edged words it imparted to the young man, before it dissolved completely into oblivion.
TBC...
wufei's just... he's just got such a stick up his behind. i'm sorry, truly, i am. but he's going through a difficult time. try to understand. i have nothing against him. or ducks. or cows. oh wait, i haven't mentioned the cows yet... i will, eventually, in haven.
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